Free wi-fi for students in TN public libraries soon

CHENNAI: In a first, government public libraries in Tamil Nadu will soon get free wi-fi connections for students appearing for various competitive exams.

At present, there are 4,650 state-owned public libraries functioning across all districts with more than 60 lakh readership base. However, these do not have wi-fi connections.

A senior official from the School Education Department, told DT Next that competitive exam aspirants have requested wi-fi connections in public libraries so they can download model question papers and engage in other related activities. “Hence it has been decided that connections will be made available in 325 libraries in the first phase and one lakh students will benefit from the initiative,” the official said.

Stating that the State government has allocated Rs 287.27 crore for the Directorate of Libraries this year in the budget, the official said during the second phase, another 1,000 libraries would be covered. He also said that authorities will discuss the speed of the net connection depending on the number of users.

The official said an interested reader could get the password to access the internet connection on her/his mobile or laptop free of cost. “Only members can use the connection. In case non-members want to utilise wi-fi services, they should get special permission from the library in-charge,” the official said.

The official free wi-fi scheme is likely to be extended to the branch libraries in rural areas depending on requirement. The government has also planned to set up civil services study centres in 289 public libraries at taluk headquarters across TN and work is under way to procure books, newspapers, and periodicals required for competitive exams.

Are you in Chennai? Then click here to get our newspaper at your doorstep!